Debaser: Rebecca Havemeyer
Where plugging comes with a price
Mitch Soileau
Article Tools
Rebecca Havemeyer: Hey Homo! is a group started by Chivonn Anderson and Kayla Williams at the Alamo Drafthouse. They wanted to start a night that would be a gathering for the homos—the queers of Austin. They contacted me and expressed interest in me hosting, and I met them, loved them, saw the downtown Alamo filled with queers in my mind, and said, "Hell yes.” It's a lot of the same crowd who do Camp Camp, the open mic night at Bouldin Creek Coffee House, and also curious, artsy people on the side. Basically you get a nice 15-minute performance from Rebecca, and then we screen movies. We try to pick movies that aren't necessarily gay-themed, but are interwoven into gay culture.
D: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for example?
RH: Oh yeah! Had to have some Elizabeth Taylor for Christmas. We've done Desperate Living, we're showing Top Gun in February. I mean, c'mon… Kelly McGillis. The girls like her! I'm trying to push for The Wicker Man in May so we can have sort of a “Pagan May Day” celebration. We really try to stick to things that influence the culture rather than “gay” movies. There's a lot of camp in the mix. We really try to keep that wild, queer, playhouse feel.
D: What can first-timers expect from Rebecca?
RH: The first thing I always say is, “Expect a lot of winning ignorance from your hostess.” She's someone you maybe want to care for, but you know... She's a little burnt. You're basically on a big train that's being steered by this ignorant, burnt-out socialite who's had her day in the sun and is now just rolling in the hay of it all. Her pre-shows have that Oscar ceremony, Billy-Crystal-coming-out-and-hitting-you-with-a-number-feel—trying to be grand, but never really getting there. There's always a theme song designed for the night. We also have special guests sometimes who come up and join Rebecca. We've had Silky Shoemaker, the Red Light Burlesque—so lots of raunchy tits-shakin' there. We've had people pop out of a cake made out of manure. That was for Desperate Living.
D: Sounds like Desperate Living was the show to see.
RH: We had several people walk out on that show, because they were so disgusted. But that's what we want! I want people to see things that they've never seen, and to bring back these movies that make you want to walk out. I think that's the direction Hey Homo! wants to go in: In addition to the vaudeville, we want to knock people around a bit.
D: Knock who around?
RH: Well, there are a lot of gays and queers here in the city, and there are many different forms of "lifestyle" mixed in the pudding. Hey Homo! is an opportunity and a challenge for all these different pockets to gather and just fucking give it up, and have a good time for gay’s sake. Too many times, the tight gay moneymakers try and tell the wild queers to calm down and make things family-friendly. What they don't realize is that they’re trying to concentrate a straight ideal upon the very fairies and fags who brought them to the platform that they stand upon today. Hey Homo! is an invite to come and leave the shit at the door, and experience an evening of culture clash, gender blending, and severe education.
D: Does Rebecca have any trouble connecting with the straight members of the audience?
RH: Straight guys can be tough, but girls love me, you see. I'm a Katrina baby. I grew up in Lake Charles, and I came here from New Orleans, so Rebecca is very much in that whole Southern, “Hey there, honey!” vein. Over Christmas I did a show at Lamberts—a very straight crowd with, you know, golfers and football players—and I have a strategy in place for those crowds. The girls and I have some “girl talk” first. Then I go talk to the straight boys and play matchmaker. Sometimes you just have to give people something they want—and in this case, guys want to suck face with a pretty girl, and they're more willing to approach you that way.
D: Do those guys ever come out to Hey Homo?
RH: Not unless a girl brings them. The “corporate gays” are our challenge—the arms-crossed, nervous gays, sitting there looking straight as all get out. Hey Homo! is our way of shaking them around and helping them remember where they came from.
D: Rebecca is slated to sit out the Hedwig screening. Who’s this “Christeene” person?
RH: Yes, Rebecca will be out of town, and “Christeene” will be taking her place. Christeene is a product of my nasty side, and 180 degrees opposite from Rebecca. She's been labeled "terrorist drag" by [the Austin Chronicle's] The Gay Place. She has a gold tooth, and this weird baby fetish. My characters usually surface from experiences I have in my work environments, and Christeene is a product of the corporate cube of Starbucks: Money, gluttony, order, and pure mayhem.
Christeene (w/ DJ Jaunty), "Fix My Dick"
D: With such outré characters, it’s hard to imagine you ever getting embarrassed by anything. Nevertheless, here’s the part where you have to give us some schadenfruede.
RH: It is almost impossible to shame me, but I’ve definitely incurred a little bit of “judgment,” so to speak. This one time a guy and I were having drinks at a bar, and my dad was visiting the same weekend. I put my dad up in a hotel that happened to be near this bar. My older man and I are having a great time, and eventually we check out of that bar and into that same hotel—because it was close right? [Laughs.] Bad idea. The next morning, I check out with Mr. Older Man, and the concierge is looking at me like, “Well, well. Had a fun night, did we?” Right then, I get a call from my dad, so I hail my date a cab and send him home. I wheeled right back around, and go meet my dad—also older, obviously—in the lobby and we checked him out. At this point, the concierge is looking at me like I must be running my own personal prostitution ring servicing older guys. Rebecca would not have approved.
Facebook
